Missionaries: From Alaska to Patagonia · Episode 3 of 10 · 36 min
How Indigenous People Resisted the Spanish Missions — Pueblo Revolt to Serra
Spain conquered the Southwest and California largely with friars who gathered Native people into missions that were church, farm, factory and, for many, prison. The 1680 Pueblo Revolt drove Spain out of New Mexico for twelve years, and California's missions saw severe population collapse. The canonization of Junípero Serra still divides the descendants of those he baptized.
Who's who
- Junípero Serra+2 more episodesFranciscan who founded the first nine California missions; canonized 2015
- Po'payTewa leader of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt
- ToypurinaTongva medicine woman who helped lead a 1785 revolt
- Valentin LopezAmah Mutsun chairman and opponent of Serra's canonization
- Andrew GalvanMission Dolores curator who supported Serra's sainthood
- Juan de OñateBegan Spanish colonization of New Mexico in 1598
- Diego de VargasBegan the reconquest of New Mexico in 1692
- Gavin Newsom+11 more episodesCalifornia governor who apologized in 2019
Where it happens
- New Mexico+1 more episodeRegion of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt
- Mission San Gabriel, CaliforniaSite of the 1785 Toypurina revolt
- Mission San Diego de Alcalá, CaliforniaFounded by Serra in 1769
- Ohkay Owingeh, New MexicoPueblo home of Po'pay
Timeline
- 1598Oñate begins Spanish colonization of New Mexico
- 1680Pueblo Revolt kills about 400 Spaniards and expels Spain
- 1769Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá
- 1785Toypurina's revolt at Mission San Gabriel fails
- 2015Pope Francis canonizes Serra
- June 18, 2019California apologizes for genocide of Native peoples
Still debated
Serra's personal culpability, whether judged by the system he built or credited for restraining soldiers, is an unresolved debate in which Native people themselves disagree. Population figures vary by source, accounts differ on how voluntary conversion was, and critics tie canonization to the Doctrine of Discovery.
← PreviousA Race for Souls: How Two Churches Divided the Canadian ArcticNext →Black Robes and Praying Towns: Two Ways to Convert a People Who Outnumbered You
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